Tshwane land hearings move to larger venue

This comes after residents in Tshwane complained that the venue in Pretoria West was far too small, with some threatening that the hearings would not take place if a new venue was not found.

“The main reason for the change of venue was to accommodate as many people as possible in one venue,” read a statement from the joint committee.

The Tshwane public hearings, which are taking place on Saturday, have now been moved to the Heartfelt Arena in Thaba Tshwane.

“The people who will make their way to the original venue will be shuttled to the Heartfelt Arena,” the statement reads.

On Wednesday, committee co-chairperson Vincent Smith admitted that there was an ongoing issue with the venues picked for the hearings, and for Thursday’s sitting in the West Rand, and apologised to residents.

“I apologise profoundly for the venue. I underestimated the interest South Africans had on this issue,” Smith said.

He repeated a similar apology during the second stop in Vereeniging, Gauteng, on Friday.

Two delegations from the committee have been conducting public hearings across the country to hear South Africans’ views on whether or not Section 25 of the Constitution should be amended to allow expropriation without compensation.

Earlier this year, most political parties in the National Assembly supported a motion the EFF had brought forward for the expropriation of land without compensation. The committee was instructed to investigate if there was a need to amend the Constitution to make this possible.